Divide-et-impera Heuristic-based Randomized Search for the Qubit Routing Problem

Abstract: This paper introduces the DIRSH algorithm for the Qubit Routing Problem (QRP), using a heuristic-guided randomized divide-and-conquer strategy. The method splits the circuit into chunks and optimizes each one with a stochastic selection of gates and swaps. It balances global search, via restarts and adaptive tuning of bandit parameters with depth-sensitive local pruning. Tested on RevLib benchmarks mapped to the 20-qubit IBMQ Tokyo topology, DIRSH outperformed three LightSABRE variants across different time budgets, achieving shorter depths and fewer swaps. These results confirm that combining chunk-based decomposition with bandit-driven heuristics is effective for routing quantum circuits on NISQ devices.